Preparing to overthrow the monarchy, this comrade managed to get married to a married woman and improve anti-aircraft guns. After the revolution, he was carried away by diplomacy and scientific activity.
It is believed that politics is a kind of bloodthirsty deity to whom people sacrifice their lives. The nature of a weak person can be subjugated by a less ambitious dream. Strong and talented people manage to achieve much in the public sphere and in others.
Childhood
The peasant Mikhail Ignatiev became famous after he raised the question of protecting people from diseases spreading from dead animals during the Russo-Turkish war. He was invited to work with the capital, and soon he became one of the city's leading veterinarians. As a reward for his contribution to the health of the people, the sovereign granted him the rank of real state adviser and hereditary nobility. The newly minted aristocrat immediately married a girl from a noble family.
Alexander Ignatiev in the family circle (1906)
In 1879 a couple was born to a couple. The boy was named Alexander. Father dreamed of seeing his son as the star of science and tried to give him the best education. Sasha was sent to study at the 10th classical gymnasium. The guy quickly learned the material and pleased his parents with success. In his free time, he liked to read. True, the student preferred literature, which was forbidden in tsarist Russia.
Youth
The young man loved exact sciences, therefore, after graduating from high school, he entered the Physics and Mathematics Department of St. Petersburg University. In 1904, his mother died. Sorrow and workload at work did not allow Sasha's dad to notice that something was wrong with his son. The student appeared less and less at lectures and more often at meetings of revolutionaries. It all ended up in the fact that in February 1905 a young rebel was wounded by a Cossack with a saber, dispersing a labor manifestation.
Cossacks disperse the demonstration
Injury allowed to temporarily interrupt his studies. To restore health Alexander Ignatiev went to Finland, where his parents’estate was located. In the house of the victim of the regime, an ammunition depot was organized. In 1907, the owner of a dangerous mansion became the leader of the combat technical group, which was preparing sabotage against important ranks of the Russian Empire. A year later, the secret police went on the trail of the terrorists and many of our hero’s comrades were detained. He hid his wealth until better times and escaped arrest.
Political passions
While the former student was preparing for action, an uprising took place in Moscow under the leadership of Nikolai Schmidt. The leader of the rebels died in prison and bequeathed his property to the party of the RSDLP. Naturally, it was impossible to legally obtain the inheritance; it went to the sisters of the deceased, who were ready to enter into fictitious marriages with revolutionaries in order to transfer funds to those to whom they were intended.
Alexander Ignatiev
Elizabeth Schmidt was already married. Her husband was Victor Taratuta. The missus was hiding from the authorities abroad, so the lady could not transfer money to him. Friends convinced her to have a wedding with Alexander Ignatiev. The bride and groom should not have attempted to encroach on someone else's wife, but Lisa was so good that he could not fulfill his promises. In 1910, the couple went abroad, where they were already met by the rejected husband of Elizabeth. Ignatiev tried to get rid of him with the help of slander. He declared the unfortunate traitor and urged to deal with him. An internal party investigation denied all allegations.
Household chores
Alexander was afraid that an unpleasant incident would affect his personal life and his beloved would return to her slandered husband out of pity. In 1911, he returned to his homeland with his wife. There the royal gendarmes were waiting for him. Our hero was brought to trial as a militant of the RSDLP, but there was not enough evidence of his guilt for the sentence. Ignatiev was released. He suddenly wanted to study again.
Curiosity led the revolutionary to the ranks of students at St. Petersburg University. He did not get a diploma, the First World War began and all men who were fit for military service were taken into the army. Then Ignatiev was credited to the artillery, where he was able to demonstrate his talent by creating a device for adjusting fire for air targets. In February 1917, the inventor was fired in St. Petersburg, but chose not to interfere in the capital's affairs. He returned to the front, where he was elected to the regimental committee.
Improvised anti-aircraft gun of the First World War
